10 Months.

Cathy is 10 months old now, as of yesterday.
The most recent pictures of her are trapped in a camera phone with no means as of yet to move to the computer, so here's one of her Christmas pictures.. she looks just the same outwardly...
Hidden tho, are her 4 new teeth.
She got her first one just after Christmas and is already up to 4!
She knows just what to do with them... Bite Mommy and Daddy's fingers, of course!
..She just looks like an angel. :)

Cathy still doesn't realize it, but she can stand and balance completely on her own now. She will be standing, holding onto the crib watching TV, then pull her hands back, and balance with just a bit of a wobble, still watching TV.
It won't be long before she figures out she can move that way too.
Still no real words... Just lotsa Baaa's, laughs, and random sounds.

Current weight 20lbs, Length 28 inches.

Cathy's first 9 months... Month 9.

The photos of Cathy for 9 months are trapped in a camera phone I got Nov 30 with no means as of yet to move to the computer. I have to buy or receive a cable to get the camera phone pictures from my camera. I should aquire this in late February, soon after which I will post her pictures here. I hope they look good!

As December came around, Cathy finally learned to go to sleep when not being held by Mommy or Daddy, even just for a nap. She did it reluctantly, but she did it. How wonderful. And now, when she wakes up at night, wanting fed, she just goes back to sleep upon being given her bottle.
Still no uninterupted nights of sleep for the child or parents, but much better.
Baby CAT's vocabulary at this point was still very heavy on the "baaa Baaa's" but she mixes in a much wider variety of sounds . She's finally tiring of the 2$ kicky toy her grandma bought for her at a garage sale.. That thing's been Momma's best freind when she wanted Little CAT pleasantly distracted for ages. At least other toys and cans to drum on are a decent substitute.. along with the TV running on something interesting that's been her constant companion during her infancy. Bad mom. (So much for raising a non-couch potatoe. but, hey.. she watches food network! That's educational!)
When put on the floor, baby CAT can crawl with a real crawl now.
Towards the end of December, when Cathy stood in her crib, she could lean on the rail without holding on and do other things with her hands, like clap her hands, orbend over and pick up a toy.. although that one often ends with her falling over. Usually painlessly.

Cathy's first 9 months... Month 7-8

We have no studio pictures of Cathy during this time frame. With the hit or miss quality we've had with the pictures, it's hard to take the time and $ to have them made.
Some friends of ours took pictures of her with their digital camera that I will post here, I've misplaced the CD, however... Not lost! It will turn up!
At which point the best of them will get posted here.

During this time frame, Cathy continued to drool like crazy... She'd learned to sit up like a pro!
While in her crib, one of the games she played is 'Attica'... a game whereby one holds a hard toy, such as a can, and rubs it back and forth over the crib bars. clang clang clang! She continues with this game presently.
By Thanksgiving, she'd learned an odd means of crawling.. I called it 'lurching'. It worked just fine for getting around, thank-you very much!
Little CAT had also discovered how fun it was to sit in Grandma's floor and rip up real-estate magazines.
She also began to stand herself up in her crib, and proceed to climb on top of any toy she could find.
While doing this on November 7th, while Mommy had the rail in her crib down, Cathy managed to take flight for real. Mommy was right there, and caught her on the way down, so she still hasn't learned a fear of gravity.
-Best flight ever!-
Her vocabulary over this time has gone through various phases. Her first "word" was "Laaaaa", however she changed to "aamaa amaaa maaa", briefly, went to "ABaaaa ABaaa" very quickly, and had kept to this one for a good while. "aaad aaad addd" also surfaced, mixed in with "daa daa daa"... none of her words seem to mean to her what we would take them to mean yet... but she loved saying them. Repeatedly.. Until she decided to change to another word for a few days or a couple of weeks.

Cathy's first 9 months... Month 5-6

When Cathy was 6 months old, she was able to hold her own bottle. That's pretty impressive when the bottle is almost as big as you are!

During this time frame, Little CAT also learned to hold toys and various objects, and could play with things by a means other than kicking.
Kicking was still great tho.

Also, at this point, she was able to barely sit up. she could balance about 3 seconds before falling. Just a short time previously, she didn't understand the point of 'sit' when she could stand! (with assistance) We used a seat in the portraits to be safe.



For the 6 month pictures, we went to the same place that provided the excellent 3-4 month pictures, only we asked for them on disk instead of printed. I do not know what they do differently when they print, but the portraits are definately sub-par. Would you believe that's a white dress?

Cathy's first 9 months... Month 3-4

Cathy's photos for this time frame I still need to scan. I will update this post with them when they are available. For now, here's a collage my mother created using them. The age and I believe the date are wrong on them however. The photos were MUCH better than to 2 month old ones.

For a brief, shining moment during this time... 4-5 weeks... Little CAT was sleeping through the night. Alas. That did not last. During her waking hours, Baby CAT began to show her developing personality. Cathy discovered her love for flying. The Best thing in the world to her was, and still is, to be lofted high in the air swooping left and right, and buzzing the top of peoples heads. Baby CAT also acquired the nickname Droolia during this time period. I think she drooled out more fluids than she drank. Makes you wonder how she had any left over for her diapers! But.. she did. :)

Cathy's first 9 months... Month 1-2

Cathy was very active and alert in her first 2 months. She was a very social baby. By 2 months she was always smiling at every new face she saw, although you wouldn't know it by the portraits we had done that month.
It took an hour after our appointment time before they could get to us, by which time the baby who'd had a delightful time all day was a miserable grouch. They didn't have a way to keep the baby upright while taking photos, just the 'sack of potatoes' method.
If you see a photographer doing this with your child, stop them and go somewhere else... by the time you see the pictures a month later, it's too late.

Cathy was also born standing.
Well, not quite. But she could support her own head at birth, and when we tryed the 'sit up' exercises with her, when we pulled her hands she'd stand instead of sit, and grin reeeal big.
When we would hold her, instead of being cuddly, she would twist around and stand in your arms so she could see the world.
Yes, her In Utero Soccer practice stood her in good stead.
The portraits in this post were taken at age 2 months, in our local S...s department store portrait studio.

Cathy's first 9 months... Month 0.

For Baby CAT's first nine months, she kept her Mommy very busy, so her story was very delayed, but is now being told.
When she was born, the day before Easter, 2005, Little CAT was 7lbs,1oz and 20 inches long.
She was an adorable infant, that slept a lot, and wasn't too sure how to go about the eating thing...
Of course by the time Mommy was ready to be up and around, Little CAT was sleeping far less.
Poor Mommy.
This picture was taken at 3 days old, just before leaving the hospital. Did she wink at you?


Little CAT couldn't have had a happier or more loving Daddy...

Here's the two of them at 3 days old.


Mommy's pretty happy too.. but tired. Mom and Dad both are... March 25th was just the first of many sleepless nights.

Here's Mamma CAT, and Little CAT at 1 day old.

Little CAT's first Christmas

Cathy is 9 Months old now..
I'll have to tell you more about those first 9 months later, but meanwhile, here's a picture representing Little CAT's First Christmas.


I call it.. "The Many Moods of Cathy"